Thoughts on Genesis.

These are some of my collected thoughts on Genesis

EVE

Many of the Church Fathers saw Mary as the new Eve. Like Christ being the new Adam to rectify the “damage” inflicted on the world by the first Adam. So Mary is an archetype of Eve reversing the course set by Eve to actually become the “mother of the living(God)”. Mary is the “New Eve”.
Rabbi David Fohrman points out that Eve's response to God is one of pride, not surprise or thankfulness. Eve says, "I have acquired(kinyon) a man with(et in heb.) God." Eve uses the term et instead of im which possibly connotates utility- such as I dug a hole with(et) a shovel, vs. I dug a hole with(im) Dave. Im would imply partnership. For Eve, God is merely a tool for her creation. She seems to still be believing the lie of the serpent. So her reaction to the birth of Cain was pride. If you juxtapose her and Mary's responses to their "miraculous" births (the only two "seed" of a woman) you can see direct opposite reactions.
Mary, on the other hand, responds with humility and adoration:

46And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

The Tree of Confusion

The Tree of the Knowledge(hebrew; daat) of Good and Evil should be understood as the mixture of good and evil. “Now Adam knew(daat) Eve his wife, and she conceived ...”. Adam became intimate with his wife. There was a “mixing” flesh. Good and evil became intimately intertwined, confused. The world turns gray. A special understanding is not imparted by its fruit, rather our choices become clouded and confused between good and evil and that is the condition of man.

Adam, Where Are You?

Death is ultimately a separation. That is perhaps, of course, the reason we grieve. We are not so much worried as to where they are (although that may be a factor) after death, but that the dead have become separated from us. Adam and Eve were warned that on the day they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would "die." And that is what happens when the eat of it. That day they become separated from God. God comes to the garden and says "Adam, where are you?" He has to ask this because Adam and Eve began the separation/death process that God finishes by expelling them from the Garden of Eden.

Abel

Adam's vocation as gardener becomes toilsome because of his disobedience. The curse he ushered into the world contaminated the ground and now he will have to fight thorns and thistles to get his “bread”.
Cain continues in his fathers steps. He toils within the boundaries of the “curse”. Cain becomes a “worker of the ground” to continue his father Adam's work.
Abel, on the other hand, becomes a shepherd. Perhaps this represents man's first attempt to break away from the curse. Man would not be given the right to eat meat until Noah leaves the Arch (Gen 9:) a few hundred years later. Unlike his brother Cain, he continues God's work of covering man with animal skins. Like his name means, his life was like a breath(hevel), short lived. The brother who was content to remain in the curse becomes jealous and kills him. Abel then is a foreshadow of Christ “The Good Shepherd.” He Attempts to free fallen man from the established order only to be killed by those who do not want to be free from the cursed order. However Abel's death was not sufficient and could not atone.

“...and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Heb 12:24
Lamech

The ideal marriage in the scriptures is between one man and one women as it says in Genesis 2:24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh". Note the אשה(singular) not the plural form אשת. It’s interesting to note that the first redefinition of marriage comes in 4:19,ff when Lamech takes two wives. What follows is a complete degradation of society that has to be destroyed in the flood.

Lamech's hope

Lamech calls his son Noah because “this one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which HaSHEM has cursed.” Here we have the first messianic figure in the Bible. Was Lamech correct in his hope that his son would somehow free them from the curse that Adam and Eve had ushered into the world or was this just wishful thinking on the part of a hopeful parent? His name means comfort. Does Noah bring comfort and rest from the curse? The curse is eased a bit when God gives man the right to eat meat (Gen 9:3). Perhaps this is better understood as a faint adumbrate of the future Messiah who is our rest and who sends the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

Noah

Although Noah was righteous, perhaps he sinned in not interceding for the world before God destroyed it in the flood. Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses intercedes for the children of Israel when God becomes angry at the sin of the golden calf. But Noah is silent. He doesn't ask God why nor does he try to warn his fellow man about the impending judgment like Jonah did.

Wrestling with God and Man

Esau's character trait was pride, haughtiness. He did not recognize his imperfect state as always needing improvement. He felt complete as his name indicates (Esau comes from the word asu: complete). There was no struggle in him.
Jacob, on the other hand, was wrestler from the beginning. He had a hold of his brother’s foot on their way out of the womb. His wrestling was philosophical and emotional. He had a grasp of his "fallen nature." He was always in a struggle to better himself and to understand the world around him. It was this wrestling that merited him the fruition of the promise that was given to Abraham. The promise that God will “make you a nation”.

Tree of confusion

The Tree of the Knowledge(Daat) of Good and Evil should be understood as the "mixture" of good and evil. good and evil become confused. the world turns gray at the "fall". A speacial understanding is not imparted by its fruit rather our choices become clouded and confused between good and evil and that is the condition of man.

fanatisism is the worship of self.